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A fair price for the feds to pay

Published: Friday, February 4, 2011 at 10:49 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 4, 2011 at 10:49 a.m.

A federal judge made official what many Gulf Coast residents, workers and business owners have known for months: The U.S. Interior Department displayed contempt for a court order striking down the original ban on deepwater drilling by almost immediately implementing a nearly identical ban.

“Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the reimposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt of this court’s preliminary injunction order,” U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman wrote in an ruling issued this week.

Feldman ruled that the government will have to pay the attorneys’ fees for the companies that had filed suit originally challenging the ban, enacted after the deadly April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon that set off the months-long Gulf oil spill.

Members of President Obama’s administration argued that the ban was needed to give the government time to reassess its permitting practices, overhaul the agencies that manage and oversee oil and gas production in federal waters and rewrite safety protocols in the hope of preventing a future spill.

Business owners and workers in the oilfield argue that the ban was a needless disruption of a vital industry at a time when the government should be helping the Gulf Coast get back to work.

Even assuming the best of intentions on the part of the government, though, it is difficult to see how the Interior Department was doing anything other than showing its contempt for Feldman’s ruling when it issued the second ban, essentially the same as the first.

The ban had its desired effect even after it was struck down. Uncertainty surrounding the oilfield, as well as a de facto drilling ban created by the government’s refusal to issue new permits, has slowed work in the Gulf.

Unfortunately, the judge’s latest ruling will have little impact. But it does lend credence what many oil-industry officials argue: that the Obama administration, bent on moving the nation toward alternative energy, is creating excessive hurdles for companies that drill in the Gulf and elsewhere.

Yes, safety is paramount. But communities like ours, which depend on the oil industry for jobs and economic stability, need the federal government to be reasonable and balanced in enacting new regulations on drilling. Let’s hope the judge’s ruling will encourage that balance going forward.

<p>A federal judge made official what many Gulf Coast residents, workers and business owners have known for months: The U.S. Interior Department displayed contempt for a court order striking down the original ban on deepwater drilling by almost immediately implementing a nearly identical ban.</p><p>“Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the reimposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government's contempt of this court's preliminary injunction order,” U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman wrote in an ruling issued this week.</p><p>Feldman ruled that the government will have to pay the attorneys' fees for the companies that had filed suit originally challenging the ban, enacted after the deadly April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon that set off the months-long Gulf oil spill.</p><p>Members of President Obama's administration argued that the ban was needed to give the government time to reassess its permitting practices, overhaul the agencies that manage and oversee oil and gas production in federal waters and rewrite safety protocols in the hope of preventing a future spill.</p><p>Business owners and workers in the oilfield argue that the ban was a needless disruption of a vital industry at a time when the government should be helping the Gulf Coast get back to work.</p><p>Even assuming the best of intentions on the part of the government, though, it is difficult to see how the Interior Department was doing anything other than showing its contempt for Feldman's ruling when it issued the second ban, essentially the same as the first.</p><p>The ban had its desired effect even after it was struck down. Uncertainty surrounding the oilfield, as well as a de facto drilling ban created by the government's refusal to issue new permits, has slowed work in the Gulf.</p><p>Unfortunately, the judge's latest ruling will have little impact. But it does lend credence what many oil-industry officials argue: that the Obama administration, bent on moving the nation toward alternative energy, is creating excessive hurdles for companies that drill in the Gulf and elsewhere. </p><p>Yes, safety is paramount. But communities like ours, which depend on the oil industry for jobs and economic stability, need the federal government to be reasonable and balanced in enacting new regulations on drilling. Let's hope the judge's ruling will encourage that balance going forward.</p><p>Editorials represent the opinions of</p><p>the newspaper, not of any individual.</p>